(AIM RP: Nuxaz and Kimaria)
He stretched out on his belly and wriggled his toes in contentment. The sun felt good on his back - the morning sun, at least. It was in that brief moment where it wasn't too hot or cold. It was just right. The rock beneath his belly was warm and the brilliance of the sky lay open above his head.
He felt rather happy today - which was a first for Cassian.
With a snort he opened up an eye to survey the blurred landscape around him. However, he decided not to let it get him down - not as it usually did, however. He could see the sky was blue and that was good enough for him.
But it was quiet...
Where was that girl anyway?
He cast a look over one shoulder, in search of Ilena.
--
Illena had her gaze set upon the unsuspecting rabbit that made it's way across the grass. She had her back arched and was ready to pounce. She had wanted to go out and fetch something for Cassian to have when he woke up but hadn't been able to catch anything with success. While it was disappointing she hadn't given up. No she wanted to prove that, yes she could do something right. So she had settled her sights on the small rabbit. It was better than returning empty handed.
Inhaling deeply once she pounced. The rabbit caught her in it's line of vision but it was already too late. She had won. Practically beaming she scooped the rabbit up into her maw and began to head back to where she had left him sleeping.
--
He couldn't see her.
He squinted his eyes and the grass shifted so that the edges were less slanty and blurred. But still no Ilena. Had she snuck off without him noticing? Well...it wouldn't be that hard, after all. With a shake of his head he turned to look over his other shoulder.
Maybe, if he was sensible, he would have gotten up off of his lazy a**. But, he was happy to sit in the warm sunshine and didn't really want to bring himself to do anything but sunbathe.
"Ilena?" He called; his voice gruff but not unkind. "Ilena, are you hiding?"
--
Illena blinked when she heard her name called. She stopped as if she was waiting before continuing at the same pace as before. However when he spoke again she quickened her pace. Was he worried about her? Mentally she shook her head. She knew she needed to answer him. "Mmmph...Imph" SHe tried to call back but her words were muffled by the rabbit. She dropped it for a brief moment.
"I-I'll be there in...in a mi-minute!" She called before scooping the animal back into her maw and breaking into a brisk run. When she saw him come into her view she slowed just the slightest, still unaware of his poor sight, though she had slight suspicions. A small smile spread across her maw as she moved closer before dropping the rabbit a few feet away from him. "I brought you something to eat... It...It's sm-small but but..." Her voice trailled off.
--
He heard her quivering voice and rolled his eyes. When was she going to stop that? She was acting as if she was scared all the time, and yes, he was grumpy but he wasn't going to hurt her. He didn't hurt girls - even if they did infuriate him at times.
"Yeah, right." He turned onto his side so that he could look across at the direction of her voice. Sure enough he saw the pale form approaching.
"Something to eat?" Ah ha! Her company was paying off already! With a small smirk he slithered from the rock, landing neatly on his paws, and trudged over to meet her.
"Hey, that's pretty good, yeah?" As he drew closer he saw it was a rabbit and his mouth literally watered. "See, yer doing fine out here in the wilderness. I told yah, nothing to it." He leaned forwards and sniffed at the food. "Where'd yah catch it, nearby?"
--
A light blush flickered across her features at his excitement. She felt so proud, she had worked hard and it paid off. "I'm glad that you...are pleased." She told him in a soft tone but managed to finish the sentence without stuttering or stumbling.
At his question she nodded. "Yup...I tried for s-something larger but..." She let a sigh slip from her lips as she lowered her head. "It didn't work so well. I'm sorry."
Illena knew that she didn't need to apologize, after all it wasn't her actual fault, she had tried, but she couldn't help but say sorry. "I-I'm working on my hunting sk-skills."
--
He waved a paw.
"Hey, yer still a little'un. When yah get bigger you'll be able to handle the bigger stuff. Trust me, I saw my mother take down some pretty mean looking stuff. See, girls are good at hunting and stuff. You're smaller and quicker, better for hunting down the fast ones. Boys have big manes and stuff. See, I ain't built for hunting anything. I'm built for fighting."
He drew his head up proudly. "That's what males are for anyway. I'll protect you and you can hunt. See, perfect team, right?" He gave a crooked, unpractised grin.
"Anyways, you gotta start somewhere." He unsheathed a claw and hooked it into the rabbit's fur.
--
Illena nodded feeling more confident with herself as he spoke to her. "I think I understand." She told him sounding a little uncertain with herself. "H-hunting is fun." She mumbled shifting her weight on her paws a little awkwardly. "It's good excersise and...I practice a lot." She admitted smiling sheepishly as she looked back up at him.
"I'm getting bigger too so hopefully I'll be able to catch something that will be more filling soon." Even if she was growing more confident and more comfortable with her self-esteem she still was very unsure of herself. She wanted to please Cassian, to make him proud of her. The reason was simply because she felt more able to do things when she was around him and she wanted to pay him back for it.
--
With a claw hooked in the rabbit he pulled it towards him, then, with a hungered look in his eye he lowered his head and began to eat. He made rather quick work of the food provided - which wasn't surprising. He hadn't eaten a proper meal since he'd last left his parents. Hunting with such terrible eyesight was impossible, he knew that now.
So, he'd been scavenging until he'd found Ilena.
The rabbit was a feast to him.
He lifted his head and licked his whiskers happily. "Good meal." He rumbled, glancing down at the leftovers. "See, yah did good, Ilena." He flicked both ears forward. "Right, since yah did such a good job, I'll let you decide where we're heading next. Anywhere in mind?"
He was becoming a little too good at being manipulative.
--
Illena bit down upon her bottom lips to prevent too large of a smile from spreading across her lips. She was thrilled, completely and utterly delighted that he was pleased, that he had enjoyed that small meal. When he offered to let her pick their next destination her eyes widened. "R-really?" Until now he had made all of the decisions, he had even really made up her mind to go out and explore with him. To have the chance to make a choice, not only for herself but for him as well was surprising. And also nervewracking.
What if she chose a place that he didn't want to go? Did she even have any idea of where she might want to go? All these questions swirled in her mind as she tried to relax thinking about passing conversations she had heard in the Kusini when she simply tried to blend in. Her uncle and his leopard mate had been speaking about somewhere they had gone...water...salt...ocean. "C-can we...we go to the o-ocean?"
--
"Uh huh. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it, yeah?" He shook his head and sat heavily on the ground, curling his tail up across his forepaws. Close up he could see her facial expressions with relative ease and it brought an odd sort of smirk to his maw as he watched her.
She was so sweet and innocent.
Then again, for a gruff rogue he wasn't the most knowledgeable of creatures. He was naive, but in a different way from Ilena.
"Ocean?" He flicked an ear and considered. He'd never been to the ocean either. In fact he wasn't even sure he knew where it was. Either way it might be pretty cool to go and see it. He shrugged. "Yeah, alright. I guess we could go. I ain't got no where else to be." He stood and shook himself all over.
"We'd better wait till the sun starts heading down, though. Its gonna get hot soon and I dun like the heat all that much." It burned his ears...
--
Light laughter slipped from her maw as he responded. "Yeah, I suppose it was silly of me to say that." She chirped with a slight shrug. She felt slightly embarassed because she felt as though she had said something stupid but he made her feel like it was okay.
"My uncle and his mate talk about it a lot...Auntie says that it's her favorite place." She told him unsure if was okay to do so. She couldn't tell if he would care or not for it. "Really? I'd really like that Cassian. A lot." She admitted blushing as she flicked her tail behind her. She cast her gaze to the ground until she was sure that the redness had vanished. "O-okay, I can go hunting again if you'd like, or I can just stay here with you." She quickly said excitement bubbling.
--
"S'alright." He replied, tipping his head as she laughed. "Damn, you do have a lot of family, don't yah?" He thought of his little family and wondered what it would have been like if he'd stayed with them, got to know them better. Maybe he had aunts and uncles too...or maybe the family he was from was just small.
"How did they take it?" He asked. "Your family, I mean, with you leaving and all? Weren't they worried or anything? If I'd been a nervous little thing like you I reckon my parents woulda stopped me from leaving." Or would they? Yeah...he was pretty sure they would.
He nodded and with a low grunt, made for the shade of a gathering of trees. They didn't offer much shade but it'd be enough to keep off the brunt of the heat. "Yah can stay here if you like, unless you're hungry."
--
"I do." She agreed nodding her head. Her family was HUGE and was still growing. Her grandparents had their third litter not to long ago from what she remembered. Her parents, and her aunt and uncle, were both so in love she wouldn't be surprised if they had another litter when she came back. "My parents weren't exactly happy but...they didn't stop me." She told him trying to find the right words to explain how the conversation went.
"Mama didn't want me to leave because we hadn't spent a lot of time together but Papa said that I needed to have my own life and do things on my own." She stated with a sigh. "I think he understands how hard it is to always be surrounded by family and being expected to follow the footsteps of another, something I don't think I could do..very...very well." She admitted frowning as she started to space. Shaking her head she focused upon him again.
"I'll stay here, I've been out all morning while you slept."
--
"Ah well, you can always go back to see them. It's not like they're all that far away, besides, being a rogue means you're not tied down to nothing. Makes it easier to see everyone that way, right?"
He flopped down against the tree trunk and shook his mane so it fell across his eyes. "See, I guess I'm lucky in that way. Dun have much family. I have my bro and my sister but it was always just the five of us. No one else, no aunts or uncles or nothing."
He released a long breath. "You have been busy."
"In any case, I'm gonna get more sleep. The more I sleep the better I can protect you, right? Gotta keep my strength up." And with a snort he rolled onto his side and set his head against the ground. "Wake me when the sun's going down, yeah?"
--
"Y-yeah, I don't think I could go forever without seeing them again." She admitted thinking about her siblings who she hadn't even said good-bye to. It had been hard enough saying it to her parents, she couldnt imagine doing so for her three siblings. "I suppose it could be easier, but maybe it's harder. Since you get closer to people when there's only a few..." She mumbled her thoughts drifting off. Perhaps she had woken up to early and hadn't gotten enough sleep.
"I...I just wanted to sur...surprise you." She told him sheepishly shifting her weight as she sat. "Okay, I'll wake you up then." She replied with a firm nod. "Sleep well."
